Staple



Dec. 4, 1945. D. R. LA PLACE STAPLE Filed June 13, 1942v lNVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 4, 1945 STAPLE Desmond B. La Place, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Bocjl Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Application June 13, 1942, Serial No. 446,985

3 Claims.

This invention relates to staples and constitutes a specific modification of the invention comprehended by my United States Patent No. 2,329,440, granted September 14, 1943, on an application filed April 2, 1941, for Fasteners and method of fastening.

In my aforesaid application there is disclosed a fastener in the form of a staple having leg portions and a head portion, the head portion being connected with the leg portion through oiiset shoulders, so that the head is of less width than'the distance between the two legs. The head is diilerent from the customary cross-bar the staple, in that when the staple is driven, the head is rotated from the plane of the legs to a plane at right angles to the legs. It is of extended area, so that when it is thus rotated, it will cover a relatively large area of the material into which it is driven. Thus, it is well adapted for holding paper or some other easily tearable material onto the support over which it is laid. building staple because of its application to holding roofing and siding paper on the roof boards or sheathing of a building.

The specific form of staple disclosed in my aforesaid application is shown as being shaped from flat sheet metal. It is sometimes desirable that these staples shall be formed of wire, particularly in smaller sizes, and the present application pertains especially to a fastener of the staple type formed from wire stock instead of sheet metal. It may, however, be driven in the same way as the staple of my aforesaid application. In the present invention, the staple is generally of an inverted U-form, whereby two legs are provided. Intermediate the ends of the staple the wire is inwardly ofiset, forming a shoulder in each leg of the staple. Above this offset the wire is bent to provide a connecting portion for the two legs and this portion may be bent over, from a plane parallel with the plane of the legs to a plane at right angles to the plane of the legs, whereby to provide a suriaceof extended area to lie over the paper or other material into which the staple is driven and increase the holding power of the staple beyond that of a staple made in the customary manner. For example, a portion of the staple above the legsmay be bent to the form of a partially circular loop. This loop portion is flattened against the work when the staple is driven.

As pointed out in my aforesaid application, the formation of fasteners with the head portion in the plane of the leg portion, enables these fas- I sometimes refer to this staple as a teners to be packaged in face-to-face contact, so that a great many individual units can be contained in a single row. Also, the leg portions of one row can be engaged over and contact the shoulders of the staples of an underlying row, I

whereby several rows of fasteners can be nested, with the result that the driving tool, having a magazine of relatively mall size, can accommodate a large number of fasteners.

My invention may be more fully understood by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure l is a plan view of a single wire staple embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the staple entered into the material into which it is driven and with the head-forming portion bent over.

Figure 3 is an end view showing the manner in which the staples may be nested; and

Figure 4 is a side elevation of a single. row in :which are intermediate the top and bottom of the staple, being close to the mid-point in the height of the staple. They extend inwardly a distance at least equal to the thickness or diameter of the wire from which the staple is formed. Above the offsets 4 the leg portions merge into a head portion of unconventional or iregular shape, this part of the staple being designatedi. In the drawing, it is indicated as comprising a simple loop.

The staple is driven until the shoulders 4 limit the further penetration of the staple. The upper part 5 is rotated about the offset portions 4 as an axis from the plane of the legs to the position shown in Figure 2, where this portion of the staple lies fiat over the work into which the staple is driven.

Because the head portion and leg portions of the staples originally lie within a common plane, the staples may be adhesively joined in face-toface relation into rows of any desired length. In Figure 4 such a single row of staples is illustrated, the row of staples being designated 6.

Several rows of staples may be stacked in superimposed relation, as shown in Figure 3, and when so stacked, the looped portions 5 forming the upper part of each unit, extend between the legs 6 of the superimposed unit, while the points of the staple of one row rest on the shoulders of an underlying row. The package or biscuit thus formed has substantially fiat sides and all of the rows may be adhesively, as well as functionally, joined. There may be frictional contact between the head portions 5 and the legs 8, where these parts are interfitted for holding the rows together. Adhesive, as well as frictional, contact may be employed. By nesting the staples one row above another, the total height of the biscuit is considerably less than the corresponding height of the same number of rows, not

nested, thus enabling many more staples to be charged into a magazine of a given size.

In the modification shown in Figure 5, the staple is of the same general form having legs 8, inwardly offset at 9, with straight side portions l connected by an archlike or upwardly crowned bridge II. This staple is driven and bent over the same as the staple previously described, and because of the loop or top portion having the straight portion 8, the frictional engagement between nested rows may be greater than where the head portion is more nearly a rounded loop.

In the modification shown in Figure the shoulder or oil'set 9 is just equal to the diameter of the wire, this being the minimum offset to enable rows of staples to be nested with the biscuit so formed having flat sides. It is also the minimum distance to permit the top of the staple to be turned over as shown in Figure 2, this much oilset being necessary for clearing the guides in the driving tool that guide the legs of the staple.

With no offset the top portion of the staple could not turn. The turning of the staple twists the metal in the shoulder 9. Where the shoulder 9 is short, as shown in Figure 5, the twisting is concentrated, so that the metal is very drastically cold worked when the head of the staple is turned, and for this reason the form shown in Figure 1 is preferred, as the shoulders I are longer and the distortion of metal in turning the head is distributed through a greater distance upwardly extending and the cold working at any point is less drastic. This reduces the tendency of the head to spring back after being turned or for the metal to break when it is being twisted, but as a matter of practice it is preferred with both forms to initially turn the head slightly more than 90 so that it may spring back a little. The head of the staple shown in Figure 1 widens out above the shoulders 4 to a point where the sides of the loop are oifset just the diameter of the wire, thus having all of the advantages of the form shown in Figure 5 plus the benefit of the longer shoulders.

While I have illustrated and described one specific embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that this is merely by way of illustration, and that various changes and modifications may be made therein, within the contemplation of my invention and under the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A substantially U-shaped staple having a crossbar and depending legs with the lower portions of the legs ofiset outwardly a distance equal to the thickness of the material of the legs. 2. A U-shaped staple having a crossbar and depending legs with the legs offset outwardly toward their ends a distanceequal to the thickness of the material of the legs to provide upper and lower parallel portions whereby to'adapt a series of the staples to be nested one within another in a stack having substantially flat parallel sides.

3. A U-shaped staple having a crossbar and depending legs with the legs ofl'set outwardly intermediate their ends a distance equal to the thickness of the material of the legs to provide upper and lower parallel portions whereby to adapt a series of the staples to be nested one within another and connected to each other by the frictional engagement of the upper portion of one staple with the offset leg portions of the staple in which it is nested.

DESMOND R. LA PLACE. 

